Beyond Our Selves (Sequel to Beyond Our Earth)

Chapter 9: Science

SARA

There were plenty of humans walking off the pods and into the strange new world that would be life in space. I had ordered a continuous shuttle service to and from earth, helping anyone who needed it. But this was just one camp of humans, one place on a massive planet that was, last I checked, home to over 8 billion.

This was a temporary fix. We needed to solve the real problem.

What was that exactly?

As I pondered, something caught my eye. It was a familiar face. A friend.

I walked over to her.

"Sara!" She exclaimed. "No way! You're here too!"

We hugged.

"Good to see you again." I spoke.

"Were you in the camp?" She asked.

I shook my head.

"Is this not the most insane thing you've ever seen?" She said, looking around. "I still can't believe it - aliens to the rescue."

I nodded.

"Why so quiet?" She asked.

"Sorry. Just a lot on my mind." I said. "Hey, when you were down there, did you see my parents?"

She shook her head. "Where were they when the flood happened?"

"I don't know. I wasn't there."

Behind my friend, I saw Althazar waving me over.

"Got to go," I said. "Stay safe."

I touched her on the shoulder as I moved past.

"What's up?" I whispered to Althazar.

He was far from the humans but not out of earshot. He lead me into another room.

"You're not going to like what I'm about to tell you, love."

"Just say it."

"Earth is in doomsday. I've run every model I can think of, and there's no way that I can fix it. Our ship was designed to preserve a few species, it doesn't have the technology to alter an entire planetary biosphere. We're talking about declining oxygen, skyrocketing noxious gasses. It's a situation we've come across on countless doomsday planets. It's a slippery slope full of feedback loops that trap you in the present situation."

"You can't tell me you can't fix it. You're not allowed to-"

"It gets worse." He stated. "There's a problem with the ship. I noticed it a while ago, but I ignored it. I thought it was impossible. This technology was designed to last much, much longer."

"What is it?" I asked.

His voice got quieter, "The regeneration system is breaking down."

"You're not immortal anymore." I whispered.

"Shhh. No one can know. Could you imagine how differently they would behave if they found out that their lives were finite?"

"They'd want to live."

"They'd be out of control. They'd leave. We'd lose all the progress..." He paused. "I figured I would loop back to the planet this came from, get the system fixed, or replaced. It's gone. Swallowed by it's own star."

"Can't you go back in time?"

"It's not that easy. The science isn't precise, nor really controllable."

"Doesn't sound like science - Wait a second. Why are we talking about your stupid regeneration system. My planet is dying."

"Lovely, we don't have much time before they find out. Sooner or later they're going to realize their bodies are changing. Hair grows..."

"You deal with your problem, I'll deal with mine."

"What are you going to do?" Althazar asked.

"You're not the only intelligent species."

I walked out, got in a pod and headed back to earth. If Althazar didn't have the answer, I was willing to bet some human would. We've got scientists. Surely, they're looking into it. If there was something, anything I could do to help, I needed to be there.

As my shuttle descended towards my one and only home, I stared at the vast oceans, which tumbled out of view revealing the most picturesque image of the stars I'd ever taken notice of. What this one little place in the universe meant to me was unquantifiable. There was a whole world out there but it wasn't earth. And it couldn't save us. Only we could do that.

I was trained as a scientist. I had lived through what we thought was the biggest crisis the planet had ever faced. I had witnessed technology sweep across the globe, slower than some wanted but fast enough to avert catastrophe.

All this that was happening now reminded me of the stories I used to hear, the videos we'd watched in class that warned what of what the world would have looked like if we hadn't succeeded.

But we did. We invented, innovated our way out of it. My professor in university had been instrumental in creating the technology that saved the world.

Maybe we could do it again.

I needed to find him.